Hurricane Melissa's wind gusts reached a record-breaking speed shortly before the storm made landfall in the Caribbean last month, according to data recorded during the deadly event.

The data was collected when a NOAA Hurricane Hunter airplane dropped a fleet of weather instruments into the raging storm, according to a news release from the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research. The devices, called dropsondes, have small parachutes attached and between two and four readings per second before falling into the ocean.

Dropsondes are the only devices that can record information on pressure, temperature, humidity and wind at once. The data is used in forecasts and weather warnings, including emergency alerts.

"When you're looking at a category 4 or 5 h

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